2024 was the hottest year on record, for the first time surpassing an average global temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
And yet world leaders seem not alarmed. On the contrary; we are one month in 2025 and the battle to combat the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis seems harder than ever.
Famously, on his first day as President, Donald Trump decided to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement, which will take effect in one year. He also announced that the US, which is the country with the highest historical CO2 emissions in the world, will increase the extraction of fossil fuels.
In Europe, in the meantime, we are also seeing backlash against green policies. The European People’s Party (EPP) released a statement on competitiveness, where they called for delaying the implementation of the corporate sustainability legislation and the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) by “at least two years”. They are also against a target for renewable energy, arguing that it is up to each member state individually to decide on their energy mix. In reaction, the far-right proposed the EPP to align forces to suspend the Green Deal.
This trend is not only visible in the European Parliament. The French government also called for delaying the corporate sustainability directive and introducing a “massive regulatory pause”. The European Commission has made it one of its objectives to reduce reporting requirements for companies through “simplification”. The concern is that this will lead to deregulation and affect achieving our climate and biodiversity objectives.
It is clear: 2025 is lacking ambitious climate and biodiversity leadership. Who will fill the void and step forward as a leader to preserve our planet, protect our people, and invest in our future?
1. The time is now, 2025.
2024 has shown the world again how disruptive and dramatic the consequences of the climate crisis can be. In Europe, the floods in Central Europe and Valencia have left incredible scars on our societies and have shown how vulnerable we are to the climate crisis. Unfortunately, science foresees that climate disasters will only get more frequent and intense in 2025 and the upcoming years.
While climate change adaptation is key to protecting our societies from the adverse effects of climate change, we are still living in a time where prevention is possible. Reducing our emissions, getting rid of fossil fuels, restoring our nature, and preserving biodiversity are key to prevent further boiling of our planet and the irreversible degradation of natural environments.
Green measures do not seem to fit the current political wave in the EU, where the focus lies on competitiveness, industrialisation and defence. But if we waste 2025, this will only leave us with less time to act and drive up the costs of dealing with the climate and biodiversity crisis in the mid- to long-term.
2. Ambitious climate and biodiversity policies are strategic investments
In an era of competitiveness, industrialisation, and defense, strong climate and biodiversity policies have been deprioritised in Europe. However, investing in climate action and biodiversity is a necessary and strategic investment for the EU.
The cheapest energy remains renewable energy. European countries’ dependence on fossil fuels imported from outside the EU, remains an economic and geopolitical weakness. If Europe wants to be stronger in the geopolitical crises of today, it should act decisively on its energy security: massive investments in renewables, a clear strategy for fossil fuel phase outs, redirecting financial means from fossil to green investments.
Secondly, investing in our nature and upholding strong biodiversity policies is the best guarantee for food security. Finding a good balance between biodiversity and food production makes our food systems more resilient and thus benefits our agricultural sector in the long term. Ultimately, farmers should be supported to become allies in protecting our natural environments and be rewarded with income security.
With a strong guarantee for citizen participation and social transition measures, the EU can increase the trust and count on the support from the European citizens.
3. Don’t give up, but step up
Giving up on the EU Green Deal is no option. Ursula Von der Leyen has clearly stated in her mission letters that the European Commission wants to continue implementing the Green Deal. It is remarkable that the EPP calls for weakening and delaying green measures which undermine the Green Deal, because it goes against the direction of the EPP-dominated European Commission, where both the Commission President and Climate Commissioner Hoekstra belong to the centre-right EPP.
During the hearing of Spanish Vice President Teresa Ribera in November, the Spanish Partido Popular (EPP) was very critical for how Ribera handled the floods in Valencia when she was Climate Minister of Spain. This could have been a good starting point for the centre-right party to double down on a strong(er) implementation of the Green Deal, adjusting to the current reality of climate disasters and insecurity, which requires more investment in climate mitigation and adaptation measures, including nature-based solutions.
Unfortunately, we are missing strong leadership on climate and biodiversity among the political leaders of today. Who puts climate and biodiversity back on the agenda and acts accordingly – before another climate disaster strikes Europe, followed by expressions of thoughts and prayers and political accusations. We can do more than that; the time is now.
